FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 2000. All Rights Reserved

Music by Mary-Lynn McEwen Papa Roach with Korn Thursday, July 27 Saddledome When singer/lyricist Coby Dick came home to find his roommate had unsuccessfully attempted suicide, it’s doubtful he would have imagined anything good coming out of the grim scene and his friend’s immense pain. But as guitarist Jerry Horton recalls the incident, that act’s impact on Coby’s life and his band Papa Roach is clear. "Our first single, ‘Last Resort,’ is about somebody almost committing suicide and overcoming that feeling of loneliness and depression.... It’s weird to say, but it’s actually helped quite a few people. We get e-mails saying ‘You saved my life, I was just about ready to commit suicide and I heard your song and knew that I wasn’t alone.’ It’s a cool thing." The band that got its start in a 1993 high school talent show hadn’t reckoned on having that kind of impact on their young fans’ lives, nor had they figured on the responsibility that goes with it. "It’s a tough position to be in because as far as a moral standpoint or even a political standpoint, I don’t think that we’ve given ourselves the responsibility. (Coby)... wasn’t trying to write songs that people were going to connect with, he wrote about what happened at the time." The guitar player admits feeling shocked that the band’s first disc, Infest, has sold 800,000 copies since its release in April, helping the band gain momentum on their first major tour where they’re an opening act for Korn. "Ever since we formed, we said we were gonna be a live band and if we get radio and TV, that’s cool, but were gonna focus on (the live show). The one tour that we’ve done we’ve gotten a good response from the kids. But yesterday we played in Pittsburgh and the punk rockers there absolutely hated us. It just makes us work hard. There were some kids out there that really wanted to see us, so we just directed all that bad energy on them." And it’s about fans for Papa Roach, who chose the name in deference to the tough little warrior insect that can survive anything. Horton, who once waited outside the Sundays’ tour bus in San Francisco after seeing their show, worries that his band is less accessible to their followers because of their rapidly selling album and the need to tour and support it. "Sometimes it’s just a word and a handshake on the way by. I want to do more for the fans – if it wasn’t for them...."

| Back To This Issue Table of Contents | Back To Main Index |